chocolate ice cream leaves a nice stain on red cotton
April 30, 2003, 8:09 pm

After visiting Ray again and having my back splintered into 15 different directions and my neck broken, I jaunted off to my friendly neighborhood Giant for some necessities.

Some people go to the grocery store constantly to keep their stock piled high; I, on the other hand, tend to wait until every resource is depleted before spending serious cash at the Giant. I will not go until there are several "vital" items that I cannot live without (or, in the case of this shopping excursion, my sisters/mom discover I've been sneaking their shampoo/deodorant/toothpaste, and I'm forced to get my own). I also desperately needed Soft Lips(tm) because I can't locate any of my four round-about tubes. (Ah! Sweet, sweet lip relief! Heaven in a white, tiny tube! French vanilla goodness that makes my mouth flesh tingle! How I love you, Mentholatum Co., for your fine, fine product!)

I love Giant...it's so clean, the ladies have been working there as long as I've been alive, and everything is in the same places ALL the time. You never know who you might run into, either.

After an exhausting shopping marathon, I headed to Michael's for some last minute scrapping materials (SHUT UP! I know, I know that my latest hobby is old-ladyish and stupid, but I find it relaxes me. BESIDES, I'm the only person at the scrap table who continually uses alcohol as a theme, so take that!) and then to Maggie Moo's for a chocolate/raspberry cone (surely, after all that shopping, you must concede that I deserved it!). As I left Maggie Moo's licking my cone and juggling four bags of stuff, my (unzipped) purse, keys, and wallet, and teetering dangerously on my platforms, I saw him. It was Voldemort.

I gasped, lunging behind a cement pillar with shopping bags, errant purse, ice cream, and shoes, nearly expecting to throw up on the asphalt while he marched my way.

Upon closer inspection, it wasn't really him, but an amazing facsimile.

But my reaction told me that no matter how nonchalant and unfeeling I am about the whole thing, I don't know what I would do if I saw him again. I certainly don't know how I would feel.

I'm going to see him soon, though, too many cosmic tumblers are clicking into place around me about him: Elvis Costello showing up on my sister's mix cd that she left in my cd player (she of the Jay-Z, Biggie, and Ja-Rule fan fame), driving by his dad's office, the newest Harry Potter book on its way...

I certainly hope if I see him, I won't be the picture of grace I was this afternoon (resplendent with my chocolate ice cream drips on my shirt).

Bah. I really don't care (um, maybe I do).